I hate to pick on the kid -- because he plays hard and has said all the right things -- but Devin Askew (or the void where he plays) is the primary reason this team sucks.
We can talk about Sarr being a huge gash, Brooks' weak hands and inconsistency, Jackson's foul troubles, BJ Boston being hugely underwhelming , Cal's horrible sub patterns and personnel strategy all/air (triggered!!! for me) etc etc etc... but you need a PG that can make shit 'go' and we basically have poor man's Saul Smith back there running things.
His (+/-) numbers are horrendous, but what really kills this team is his indecisiveness and inability to do 'anything' on the floor. He's simply a vacant body who simply brings the ball up and whips it around. He doesn't really initiate anything, half-heartedly probes. He has zero confidence to make plays and I feel awful for him, whether it's of his own doing or Cal's. I'd be more than fine with him shooting 38' threes or driving the ball into 3-4 people, at least he was making the defense read/react. But it's 4v5 when he's out there now.
He doesn't break anyone down off the dribble, so everyone else plays straight up. The defense rarely has to send help, leaving everyone smothered. For Sarr, the defense can recover the high ball screen because Askew can't (or won't) turn the corner and won't shoot over the top. For Jackson, Askew can't (or won't) straight-line drive his guy so there's few opportunities for lobs. For Boston, Askew still can't (or won't) beat his guy to open up the wing for open jumpers.
Dykes said it several times last night that we don't have a PG that can break anyone down. If you can't get by guy # 1, the defense domino effect doesn't happen and everything is difficult for everyone. Nothing comes easy and everything is a grind.
If your primary ball handler struggles to do anything well and won't make legitimate intentional basketball plays to 1) attack 2) shoot 3) create, he can't (and won't) make his teammates successful. Bless his heart but that's where we're at. And that's with me hating Cal with a fury and doing absolutely nothing to help this team by his gross mismanagement/ego.
:sigh: